The bottom line is clear: Our vital interests in Afghanistan are limited and military victory is not the key to achieving them. On the contrary, waging a lengthy counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan may well do more to aid Taliban recruiting than to dismantle the group, help spread conflict further into Pakistan, unify radical groups that might otherwise be quarreling amongst themselves, threaten the long-term health of the U.S. economy, and prevent the U.S. government from turning its full attention to other pressing problems. -- Afghanistan Study Group

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Mahdi Saleh, center, reacts during the funeral for his brother, Hadi Salih, 22, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, April 25, 2010. Saleh was killed when bombs hidden in three plastic bags exploded simultaneously in a billiard hall on Saturday in a religiously mixed neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding 25 others. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Note: This is higher than the casualty toll that has been reported elsewhere, but may well be more accurate. -- C

This somewhat confusing story by AP's Lara Jakes discusses the somewhat ambiguous pronouncement by Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday, in which his offer to supply "hundreds of believers" to join Iraqi forces in defending the people was taken by some as a veiled threat to reactivate the Mahdi Army. Sadrist spokesmen insist he was only offering support for the Iraqi state; but there appears to be at least a subtle dig to the effect that the state has been inadequate so far in providing security.

"I was in class when a smell like a flower reached my nose," said Sumaila, 12, one of the girls hospitalised after the attack. "I saw my classmates and my teacher collapse and when I opened my eyes I was in hospital," she said. Azizullah Safar, head of the Kunduz hospital, said many of the girls were still suffering from pain, dizziness and vomiting.

The Taliban banned all education for girls when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 and it remains a disputed issue in much of Afghanistan. Similar attacks have been carried out in other parts of Afghanistan over the past few years, including areas where there is little Taliban presence.

Yaqubi said 20 girls had fallen ill in a suspected poison attack on another Kunduz school last week. In the south and east, where the Taliban control towns and villages, girls' schools remain shut, teachers have been threatened and some girls have been attacked with acid.

Despite the attacks, Sumaila said she hoped to return to school, if her father allows her.

In the early morning darkness, a joint U.S. and Afghan patrol killed three people and arrested two others in the village of Nasir near the Logar provincial capital, according to Afghan officials. A NATO statement said the men were shot when they displayed "hostile intent," and that one of those captured was a low-level Taliban commander who planned suicide bombings.

But a few hours after dawn, more than 100 people had gathered on a main road and insisted the slain men were innocent civilians. The furious crowd blocked traffic and set fire to at least 10 fuel tankers using hand grenades, said provincial police chief Ghulam Mustafa Moisini. By midday, the fire was still raging and neighbors evacuated their homes.

It's not surprising that Republicans oppose the Obama Administration - they want to suck up to the rich by maintaining the status quo. And it's not surprising that they lie - this is, after all, the Party that created the fictional Iraqi atomic bomb threat so they would have a winning issue in the 2002 mid-term elections. What is surprising is that they've been so successful. Why are Republican supporters so enthusiastic when they've been force-fed a diet of BS?

On the schollgirls...a terrible tragedy. However, is it that much different than what the Texas Board of Education is doing with their textbooks in that let's rewrite history. So different, yet so much the same, huh whiz?